My good friend Jeff Reifman has an incendiary new feature story in the Seattle Weekly titled Citizen Microsoft. It’s a long piece that picks up a number of major themes:
Microsoft’s increasing involvement in Washington State politics, promoting increased spending and tax breaks for corporations
Jeff estimates that Microsoft has (legally) dodged $105 million in taxes over the past two years by “domestically off-shoring” its profits to tax-free Nevada in order to shield them from Washington State taxes.
The rise of socially responsible business — even in the tech sector (think of Google’s “don’t be evil” pledge and Craigslist) and the corporate accountability movement.
Jeff’s conclusion is particularly solid:
Microsoft remains “committed to one straightforward goal, and that is ensuring that the world center for developing the best and most popular software in the world will remain Washington state.” Yet what makes Washington great for Microsoft isn’t necessarily what makes Washington a great place to live. And what if the most popular software in the world soon isn’t made by Microsoft?
The Legislature should meet our education and transportation needs, certainly, but not on Microsoft’s terms. It faces increased competition and, perhaps, slower local growth and even layoffs. And no amount of tax breaks for business or improved education and transportation is going to change that. Microsoft’s own decisions and behavior are responsible for its fate. We can’t change Microsoft’s behavior. But we can stop rewarding that behavior….